1. Technical Field
The invention relates to a control apparatus for an autonomous operating vehicle, particularly to a control apparatus for a vehicle that autonomously travels to perform work or operation, e.g., mow lawn.
2. Background Art
In an autonomous operating vehicle that autonomously travels to perform work or operation such as mowing lawn in a defined operating (travel-scheduled) area, it is necessary to detect a border of the area. Therefore, magnets are embedded on the border and a sensor responsive to the magnets is mounted on the vehicle to detect the border, as taught, for example, by Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. Sho 60(1985)-239812 ('812).
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. Hei 8(1996)-286738 ('738) discloses a technique to embed an electric wire along the border and detect generated magnetic field by a sensor mounted on an operating vehicle, thereby detecting the border. Further, Japanese Patent No. 3467136 ('136) proposes a technique to detect a position of an operating vehicle using GPS signals in addition to the foregoing magnetic induction techniques.